1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing an ink jet head for discharging a liquid such as an ink by applying an energy to the liquid.
2. Related Background Art
A printer utilizing an ink jet recording apparatus is widely employed as a printing apparatus for a personal computer, because of a satisfactory printing performance and a low cost. In such ink jet recording apparatus, there have been developed, for example, a type of generating a bubble in the ink by thermal energy and discharging the ink by a pressure wave caused by such bubble, a type of sucking and discharging the ink by an electrostatic force, and a type utilizing a pressure wave caused by a vibrator such as a piezoelectric element.
Among the aforementioned ink jet recording apparatus, the type utilizing a piezoelectric element is provided with an ink flow path communicating with an ink discharge port, a pressure generating chamber corresponding a piezoelectric element in such ink flow path, a piezoelectric element for example of a thin film type, provided corresponding to the pressure generating chamber, and a vibrating membrane to which the piezoelectric thin film is adjoined. An application of a predetermined voltage to the piezoelectric thin film causes an extension-contraction motion therein, whereby the piezoelectric film and the vibrating membrane integrally generates a vibration to compress the ink in the pressure generating chamber, thereby discharging an ink droplet from the ink discharge port.
In the field of ink jet recording apparatus, there is recently requested an improvement in the printing performance, particularly a higher resolution and a higher printing speed. For this purpose it is required to reduce an ink discharge amount each time and to execute a drive at a higher speed. For realizing these, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H9-123448 discloses a method of reducing a volume of the pressure generating chamber, in order to reduce a pressure loss therein.
Also, though for a different object, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3168713 discloses an ink jet head employing Si {110} as a substrate and utilizing an Si {111} face for a lateral face of the ink pressure generating chamber. Also Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-246898 discloses a head in which a piezoelectric element is provided in an area opposed to a cavity provided in a silicon substrate to secure a rigidity of a partition wall between the pressure generating chambers thereby preventing crosstalk.
In the prior technology, however, it is difficult to prepare an entire head including a piezoelectric element of a relatively high strength, and pressure generating chambers of a relatively small volume and a relatively small strength, in a simple manner with a high density and a high precision.